Elon Musk is a South African American businessman and entrepreneur who in 1999 founded X.com, which is now known as PayPal, SpaceX in 2001, as well as Tesla Motors in 2003. Musk became a multimillionaire during his late 20s when he sold his company Zip2 to Compaq Computers. Let’s take a closer look at his life:
Early Life
Elon was born on June 28th, 1971 in Pretoria, South Africa. When he was a child, Musk was often lost in daydreaming about his inventions that his parents order a test to check his hearing. When he was 10-years old, he developed an interest in computers. He taught himself how to program and when he was only 12, he sold his first program – a game called Blastar.
Img source: abc.net.au
Education
In 1989, Musk moved to Canada where he attended Queen’s University. He obtained his Canadian citizenship the same year, mostly because he felt it would be easier for him to obtain an American citizen by doing so. Three years later, in 1992, Musk left Canada to study physics and business at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated with an undergraduate degree in economics and stayed for a second degree in physics. After he left Pennsylvania, he attended Stanford University in California to gain a Ph.D. in energy physics. But his move was timed perfectly with the Internet craze, and he left school. He then launched his first company, Zip2 Corporation in 1995. He became a US citizen in 2002.
Img source: independent.co.uk
His Companies
- Zip2 Corporation – he launched his first company in 1995 with his brother Kimbal. An online city guide, his company soon started providing content for Chicago Tribune and The New York Times. In 1999, he sold the company for $307 million in cash and $34 million in stocks.
- PayPal – according to the experts from oberlo.com, Elon and Kimbal used the money they got from selling their company to start X.com, an online financial services/payment company. The following year, the acquisition of X.com led to the creation of what is known today as PayPal.
- SpaceX – Musk created his third company, SpaceX in 2002 intending to build a spacecraft for commercial space travel. By 2008, the company was well established and NASA awarded them with a contract to handle cargo transport for the International Space Station.
- Tesla Motors – Elon is the CEO, co-founder, and product architect at Tesla Motors, a company started in 2003 which has the goal to produce affordable, mass-market electric cars, as well as solar roofs and battery products. He oversees all product engineering, design, and development.
10 Quotes from Elon Musk that Can Inspire Anyone to Try the Impossible
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“If you get up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it is not.”
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“I could either watch it happen or be a part of it.”
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“When Henry Ford made cheap, reliable cars, people said ‘Nah, what’s wrong with a horse?’ That was a huge bet he made, and it worked.”
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“It’s OK to have your eggs in one basket as long as you control what happens to the basket.”
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“There have to be reasons that you get up in the morning and you want to live. Why do you want to live? What’s the point? What inspires you? What do you love about the future? If the future does not include being out there among the starts and being a multi-planet species, I find that incredibly depressing.”
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“I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.”
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“When something is important enough, you do it, even if the odds are not in your favor.”
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”Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up.”
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“We’re going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I’m hell-bent on making it work.”
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“The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.”
